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The Legend of the Lost Horses

The most persistent
legend at the lake, which still continues, is that
there is preserved in the cold depths of the lake
bottom two horses which had fallen through the
ice in the dim past.

Interviews with
the oldest residents of the lake, from the World
War I era, confirm this legend and may have arisen
as early as the late 1800s. The legend is
generally that a team of horses used for ice-harvesting
broke through the ice one winter and sank to the
bottom. Their ghostly remains are still there
and preserved by the frigid water. Most claim
the event occurred near Alderson not far from the
deepest section of the lake between the picnic
ground and Point Breeze.

Serious commercial ice-harvesting did occur as
early as 1888 but the ice company storage houses
at Alderson burned in February 1900. Later,
major ice-harvesting operations relocated to the
Mountain Springs lakes near Ricketts Glen but small
ice operations continued on Harvey=s Lake as late
as 1947.

In the early years horse-teams pulled ice plows
to cut ice from the lake surface. No written
account of the legendary accident has been located. It
was not uncommon for a horse team to break through
thin ice early or late in an ice season. However,
the teams had special halters (rope gear) which
enabled the ice men to respond to an accident and
usually they were able to safely retrieve a team
(and men) who fell through ice.

The undated accident which gave rise to the legend
is likely a true event - although not likely to
have been reported in area newspapers. The
event likely happened in the 1890's since older
generations born in the pre-WWI years had no actual
memory of the event.
Despite the depth of the lake at certain points
clearly the remains of the horses would not be
preserved. (There are also four drowning
victims whose bodies have never been recovered
from the lake bottom).

There are, however, confirmed facts which may
have led to the legend of the horses but are not
so ghostly.
There is an undated account of a team of horses
hauling a sled of loose stone across the lake when
the team and sled fell through the ice. This
event was early in the 1900's. But the limited
account states the horses were retrieved.

The late Tommy O'Brien, famed lake scuba-diver,
may have had this account in mind when he, too,
noted the story of the horses but understood the
horses were saved.

In 1898 two young men, Gowan C. Herdman and Lewis
McCarter were riding horses in the shallow water
near Alderson when one of the horses stumbled and
in the ensuing panic both boys were drowned. It
is possible that at least the former story was
embellished over the years to create the legend
of the lost horses.

There is a documented instance of a horse who
drowned in ice but well after the legend was established. In
late February 1943 Newell Wood and his son were
in a buggy testing Wood’s new mare Flaxen
Lady which he purchased in September 1942 for $1,500.00. The
mare was frightened by a truck and Wood was thrown
out; his son, Michael, age 9, jumped out. Flaxen
Lady scampered off the road and on to the ice on
the lake dragging the buggy which overturned (near
the Outlet). The horse plunged through the
ice into 3 feet of water and 3 feet of mud and
Flaxen Lady drowned. Police Chief Fred Swanson,
who pulled numerous drowned bodies from the lake,
was also called to remove the horse.

In the 1950's "Bucky" Kelly, an accomplished
scuba diver, scoured the lake bottom in a systematic
effort to locate a sunken ice sled and horses remains. His
search was hampered by feet of fine salt clouding
the lake bottom and he was unable to find the lost
horses.